


thinking of you

by Flowerparrish



Series: tumblr prompts [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Criminal AU, Leverage AU, M/M, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Pre-Slash, awkward confession of feelings, hitter!Bucky Barnes, thief!Clint Barton, trapped together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:08:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22854466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flowerparrish/pseuds/Flowerparrish
Summary: Clint almost doesn’t notice when the door swings shut. But the earpieces start to give off a slightly different static than they had been, and Clint glances behind him, only to see that... “Shit,” he breathes.“What?” Bucky asks from where he’s rifling through some filing cabinets.“We’re trapped.”
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton
Series: tumblr prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1643017
Comments: 22
Kudos: 139





	thinking of you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hawksonfire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawksonfire/gifts).



> For the tumblr prompts "criminal au" and "locked in a room." Thanks to hawksonfire for prompting, and sorry it took me forever to write it. 
> 
> This is a vaguely leverage inspired au, and I kind of want to touch on this dynamic again, so let me know if you like it!

Clint’s a great thief, in part because he can crack any safe in under five minutes, no matter how complicated, and in part because he’s absolutely not afraid to jump off of buildings with just some rope and a harness to keep him alive. 

Bucky isn’t a _bad_ thief, but he likes to pretend he’s nothing more than a blunt weapon. 

Clint decides during a relatively simple heist to test Bucky’s safe cracking skills, while Natasha is upstairs playing an heiress and distracting the mark. 

Clint is a little distracted watching Bucky work, bypassing alarms and unlocking the safe room in this millionaire’s basement. Not distracted by the work itself, but by how good Bucky looks using the tricks Clint’s taught him over the last couple of years since they started working as a team. 

“We’re in,” Clint says when the door swings open and no alarms go off. “We’ll look for the files and be out in fifteen minutes or less.” 

Steve, running the op from their base, says something affirmative, Clint can’t really be bothered to notice when Bucky’s already striding into the vault. Clint follows, not wanting to be too far behind. Bucky can absolutely handle himself, but Clint gets anxious on jobs when Bucky’s not in his sight. It’s a thing. He’s not questioning it. 

Clint almost doesn’t notice when the door swings shut. But the earpieces start to give off a slightly different static than they had been, and Clint glances behind him, only to see that... “Shit,” he breathes. 

“What?” Bucky asks from where he’s rifling through some filing cabinets. 

“We’re trapped.” 

They _do_ find the files they need, after Bucky spends some time punching a wall with his metal arm. There’s more stuff they could take - and Clint _does_ help himself to a handful of expensive jewels he finds in a drawer - but after about ten minutes there’s nothing for it. They just sit down by the vault door and wait to either be rescued or caught. 

Bucky’s been glowering and refusing to meet Clint’s gaze for the last ten minutes, ever since Clint pointed out that they were trapped, which is making Clint feel approximately a thousand times worse about himself than he would if he was just here alone. 

“Say something,” Clint demands after another minute. 

“What do you want me to say?” Bucky’s tone is clipped, angry. 

“Whatever it is that has you trying to melt steel with the power of your eyes.” 

Bucky growls and doesn’t say anything for so long that Clint’s sure he’s not going to say anything at all. Then, he slumps a little, posture not relaxed but something more... defeated? It’s a look Clint’s never seen on him before. It might be the first look he’s ever seen on Bucky that he _hasn’t_ liked. 

Like, okay, when they first met, Clint hadn’t been impressed. He was hot, sure, and if Clint had met him in any context other than a job, Clint would have wanted to ask him out for coffee or blow him in an alley, depending. 

But on a job? He didn’t seem very valuable. So he could hit people. Big whoop. Clint could punch someone if he needed to, could shoot a gun even if he didn’t like to, and most importantly, Clint never got caught, so it was never an issue. 

But Bucky had quickly proved his worth, and beyond that, once the team was established, he’d proven... interesting. 

Clint wasn’t good with people. His closest friend was Natasha, and they were tight after years on a team together, but in the decade before that they’d screwed each other over more times than they could count on all of their fingers combined. Clint didn’t like people. 

He liked Bucky. 

It was a problem. 

Clint is so distracted thinking about how monumental of a problem this is, the amount that he likes Bucky, that he almost misses when the other man speaks. “I’m sorry I fucked up,” Bucky says, and Clint blinks. 

“What?”

Bucky glowers at him, like he thinks Clint’s just being an asshole and trying to make him apologize again. 

“No, seriously, what the fuck?” Clint demands. “I should have noticed. I’m the one with experience.”

Bucky glowers at him for a moment longer before his expression smooths out a little. “Why _didn’t_ you notice?” he asks. “You don’t miss things.” 

Clint opens his mouth to say something, to deflect, but he can’t think of an answer. In the end, the truth spills out. “I was distracted watching you.” 

Bucky blinks. “Why?”

Clint says, “I don’t... like people. But you’re... interesting.” It’s not the words he should be saying, but it’s the best he can do, the closest he can come to admitting feelings. If you’d asked him two years ago, he would have said he didn’t have feelings about people at all, that it was a waste of time. So this is progress, right? 

It feels kind of sad for progress. 

But Bucky grins at him, something that would be a smirk if it wasn’t so warm. “I know, Barton,” he says. “Thanks. You’re interesting too.” There’s an emphasis on interesting, something teasing and fond, and Clint... doesn’t know what to do with that. 

Luckily for him, the door swings open, and Natasha’s on the other side. “You boys better have something,” Natasha snaps, one perfect eyebrow arched. “I did not spend seven minutes cracking this door for nothing.”

“Rescuing us wouldn’t be enough?” Clint gripes.

“We found something,” Bucky confirms, pushing himself to his feet and offering a hand down to pull Clint up. 

Clint hesitates for a moment, but then he takes it. Bucky’s hand is warm and calloused against his own, and the contact is brief but even after Bucky lets Clint go, Clint can feel the echo of Bucky’s touch tingling on his skin. 

He’s so screwed. 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic of] thinking of you](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24039382) by [Flowerparrish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flowerparrish/pseuds/Flowerparrish)




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